All posts filed under: Timothy Singratsomboune

This is part one on a series about how data effects Education and Affirmative Action. My fellow Lao Americans, it’s time. It’s time we make our grand exit from the rest of Asian America. Not exactly in a physical sense, and not exactly with hostility, but definitively, and with all deliberate speed. By “leave” I mean it’s time we demand to be represented separately from other Asian American groups across social platforms. Why? Because Asian America is sharply divided along ethnic lines, in both social experiences and access to resources – and this division is working against Lao Americans and other Southeast Asian Americans in favor of other groups. The Great Divide The Asian American division involves many aspects; Southeast Asia Americans are stigmatized by other Asian Americans for having a) darker skin, b) higher poverty rates, c) more “unskilled refugees” in the community, d) a perceived affinity for gang violence, and e) a bunch of other things. Each of these topics is important (and deserves its own blog post), but the main divide that I …

November 20th is Trans Day of Remembrance (TDOR), and we at Little Laos on the Prairie want to take adequate time to recognize this day. To quote tdor.info, “the Transgender Day of Remembrance was set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder on November 28th, 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Rita Hester’s murder — like most anti-transgender murder cases — has yet to be solved.” This description underscores just how serious TDOR is. We as Lao Americans need to recognize TDOR because it is an issue that affects real people – people who are typically marginalized and excluded in many areas of society. As an underrepresented group ourselves, we Lao Americans need to advocate, protect, and celebrate other underrepresented groups so that we can guarantee social progress for everyone. Speaking of being underrepresented, it is also important to recognize that Black transwomen are disproportionately facing …